Yesterday as I was participating in the music ministry at Mass, I thought about the architecture of various churches. Last year, I was in Italy and I had the chance to see many impressive churches that was inspirational.
As I looked within the walls of the various churches, I saw the great art that graced the interiors of the church. The ceilings had great paintings that communicated something about the faith. It was amazing to see what deliberateness went into the building of a church.
Yesterday I was in a church that didn't resemble a lot of the great architecture found in those churches in Italy. In fact, there are only a few churches which I have been in that have inspired this. The Cathedral of the Diocese of St. Louis is the only church in the United States that has taken my breath away.
A lot of the churches that are being built now seem to be going back to the traditional way churches were built, yet beyond the mosaics of Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. and the St. Louis Cathedral, I haven't seen a church that has the deliberateness of the older churches.
I understand the great beauty of chant. I have sung one of the Mass settings written by Palestrina. It is inspiring. It is lovely. It was a lot of hard work.
There are still modern composers who are composing great works (Ola Gjeilo comes to mind). How can we do this with the instrumentation and setting of modern instruments? One of my favorite compositions is John Michael Talbot's "Holy is His Name".
Our Lord inspires great beauty. How often do we take the time to put the effort into being inspired ... to paint a masterpiece with lyrics and melody?
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